TACHIHARA Inuki was born in Nagoya, Aichi Pref.
in 1951.He was a Jazz saxophone player
until at the age of 25.An encounter with a single ukiyo-e
print changed the course of his life and he became an ukiyo-e artist.

Determined to reproduce ukiyo-e masterpieces from the Edo period (1603-1868),
Tachihara researched the traditional techniques, pigments and paper and
experimented on his own.He is the only artist to have successfully resurrected Edo-style ukiyo-e
in all its technical and
artistic perfection.

Print-making consists of three parts: drawing the sketch, engraving the
block of wood
and printing.In the Edo period, each task
was done by a different specialist.Tachihara, however, does all three himself.He also uses traditional techniques and
materials to create his own original works.

TACHIHARA Inuki

Chronology

1951Born in Showa Ward, Nagoya City, Aichi Pref.,
Japan in 1951.

1976Started to research and execute ukiyo-e
prints.

1982In New York, he instructed American Artist Jennifer Bartlett in the making
of
a woodblock print now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern
Art.

Designed
the cover for Kabuki mugen (Kabuki
Fantasy), a book by GUNJI Masakatsu,
professor emeritus of modern drama, Waseda University.

1994Analyzed coloration of ukiyo-e prints in a joint research project with
Den Material Corporation.

Presented results of the joint research at a meeting of the InternationaColour Association in Edinburgh,
Scotland.

1995Presented results of the above joint research with Den Material Corporation
at a meeting of the International Colour Association in Amsterdam, Holland.

Co-authored
the book Shikisai kara rekishi o yomu (Reading History from Colors),
by Daiyamond, Inc.

Changed his name from Katsuhara Shinya
to Tachihara Inuki.

2000 Completed a series of ukiyo-e works
called Taketori monogatari (The
Tale of the Bamboo-cutter).

2002~ Created
illustrations for the serial novel Oedo
kyoryu den ( Legend of a Giant
Edo Dragon ) by YUMEMAKURA Baku published by Shogakukan-Shueisha.
Productions Co.Ltd.

2004Created illustrations for Shamon Kukai To no kuni nite oni to utage su
(The Monk Kukai Dines with Demon in the Land of Cathay) by YUMEMAKURA
Bakupublished by Tokumashoten.

2006Changed Chinese characters of his given
name.

2008His 2000
series Taketori monogatari (Tale of the Bamboo-cutter) was
used in EKUNI Kaori’s Koten monogatari : Taketori
monogatari
(Picture Book of Classic Tales: The Tale of the Bamboo-cutter )
published by Shinchosha.

2009Resurrected a ukiyo-e printing by UTAGAWA Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
called Konjin
Chogoro (The Wrestler Konjin Chogoro) at the joint
request of the National Museum of Ethnology and NHK.NHK
broadcast a documentary on the project that same year.

2010[May] Exhibited at International Contemporary Art Event during the
Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France.